Civil suit against Roman Polanski alleging 1973 child rape won’t go to trial; settlement reached
A civil lawsuit brought against Roman Polanski that alleged the filmmaker sexually assaulted a child in the 1970s — a separate case from his conviction for assaulting a 13-year-old girl — is set to be dismissed.
This suit, which accused Polanski of giving a child alcohol and raping her at his Benedict Canyon home in 1973, had been set to go to trial next August. But now an unspecified settlement agreement has been reached between the two sides, attorneys in the suit confirmed.
“The case settled this summer to the parties’ mutual satisfaction,†Polanski’s lawyer, Alexandrer Rufus-Isaacs, told The Times. He declined to answer any further questions about details of the settlement. Polanski, 91, had previously denied the allegations.
Gloria Allred, who represented the plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe in the case, also confirmed that “a settlement of claims was agreed to by the parties.â€
A trial date has been set for a civil lawsuit accusing Roman Polanski of raping a child in Los Angeles in the 1970s.
Los Angeles County Superior Court records showed that Allred’s team filed to dismiss the case earlier this month. The case was initially filed in June 2023.
The Los Angeles Police Department also recently investigated another incident from 1975, in which the famed director was accused of molesting a girl. However, the case was never tried because prosecutors at the time said it had exceeded the statute of limitations.
Despite living for years as a fugitive with a high-profile conviction for child sexual abuse, Polanski has remained active in the film industry, winning several awards, including Oscars. He most recently directed the 2023 movie “The Palace.â€
He was, however, expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018.
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